Remember, Mr. Customer chose view “C” – a Commission of Cats with Colored eyes?
Here it is, Tabby as a kitten and an adult, Sasha as a kitten and an adult.
The kitten on the lower right is perched on some sort of a figurine. I don’t know what it is, but Sasha is in charge of it.
And just for fun, as I was finishing up, I was drinking coffee from a mug that says “. . .and thou shalt have dominion over all the beasts, except, of course, for CATS.”
For someone who does not consider herself a kitty-puppy artist, I seem to be over-run by pencil drawing commissions of cats and dogs.
That’s okay. I love to draw in pencil.
First, the sketch. The customer chose C.
Second, begin the real drawing.
Third, keep drawing.
When I told a friend about this drawing, I couldn’t think of the kind of cat called “Persian”. So, I took the palm of my hand and smashed it against my nose, and she got it.
Okay, Central California Artist, quit talking and nose-smashing, and get back to the drawing table.
I have no intention of becoming a kitty–puppy artist. However, when I receive commissions to draw cats or dogs, if the photos are decent and I have the time, I usually say yes to those jobs.
This one began with sketches, as most commissioned pencil drawings do.
Not quite it. More sketches requested.
Mr. Customer chose C. Now we’re cooking with gas!
The printed photos weren’t detailed enough so I also worked from the laptop screen.
Mr. Customer changed mind about toy in front of dachshund. Back to the drawing board.
And thus we have 3 dogs all together, being quiet and well-behaved. Mr. Customer informed me that this NEVER happens. That explains why he sent me so many separate photos.
If you recognize these dogs, SHHHHHH. It’s a Christmas present surprise.
A customer has asked me to draw 2 cats, each one as a kitten and as an adult cat.
Have I ever mentioned that I might maybe perhaps just may have a teensy bit of a Cat Disorder? Ahem. Probably not. But still. . .
The customer sent me the photographs of his cats, and I worked out some sketches for him to choose from.
He said I was making it hard on him, but eventually decided that C was the best choice.
Of course “C” is the right choice for a Cats Collage Commission.
So, it was with great pleasure that I began this drawing. I will try to get it finished in a timely manner instead of spending endless amounts of time on it, dragging it out because I do love cats.
But I’m fine. No disorders here, nosiree Bob.
That would be “commissioned pencil drawing of a Wilsonia cabin completed”, but that title was stupid-long.
This drawing is 12×16″, and chock full of details. (What does “chock full” mean??)
It has been a couple of weeks since you saw the progression, so let’s review.
First, the sketches so the customer could choose the angle. Then, some revisions, which don’t appear in these sketches.
Next, I began the drawing, working from top to bottom and left to right. That is because I am right-handed, and don’t want to drag my hand across the piece as I’m working it. If I have to revisit an area on the left, I rest my hand on a piece of paper to protect the other parts from smearing.
The customers wanted their water wheel added, which didn’t show in the sketch. It was tiny, but it is there!
I spent a week on this, refining, darkening, figuring out what was in the shadows, sharpening up edges so the cabin would pop out from the background, experimenting with ways to make the forest look better than just scribbles. You’d think I’d have that figured out after drawing the entire book The Cabins of Wilsonia, but it never comes easy.
And at the end of a week of very concentrated drawing, here is the final result.
The customers were very happy, and that is always my goal, so I am very happy too.
Happy, happy, happy.
My drawing students do excellent work. I encourage each one to choose something she loves. because she will be looking at it for a lonnnnng time. (or he – currently I have 2 guy students). They each have subjects that interest them, and it is so fun to help them figure out how to best portray those subjects.
Margie has been with me for perhaps a year, perhaps less. She has drawn and painted in different classes and situations for many years. Hard to believe she thinks she needs lessons, but I’m happy to help her
Sometimes people take drawing lessons because unless they have 1 hour per week set aside for the purposes of drawing, they don’t pick up their pencils. I’m guessing that’s the reason Margie takes lessons.
Do you agree with my assessment?
For over a year, a pencil commission of a Wilsonia cabin has been waiting for decisions to be made by the cabin owners. I too have been waiting. And waiting and waiting and waiting.
We finally got together in person and discussed some details. They chose a view, chose a size, and paid a deposit.
I got a little ahead of myself in this commission. Normally the customer decides the size, pays 1/2 down, and then I take the photos and do the sketches. For several reasons, I didn’t do this one in the right order, which made me nervous. In the past, when the steps get out of sequence, I usually do a bunch of work for free. Then, the customer just flakes away, because he has no monetary commitment, or as in today’s vernacular, “no skin in the game”.
Not these folks. I persisted, we finally connected, and now this drawing is in progress!
Lots of fuzzy background trees – my hope is to add interest (and distract from all the vagueness) by adding that closer branch.
Lots and lots of little details too. I was relieved they didn’t want all the signs, the 2 bridges, the bird house, the bird bath, the wind chimes, the plaque, etc. The water wheel and wishing well were fiddly enough.
As a right-hander, I work from top to bottom, left to right. This minimizes the smearing from my hand dragging across the piece as I draw.
I made the changes suggested by Cowboy Bert’s wife. She is very aware of what a mule looks like from all angles, and very observant of details. (As a retired law enforcement Captain, she sometimes refers to herself as a “trained observer”.)
Here it is:
The customer requested color, in a hand-tinted old photo sort of manner. This is how it looks:
The customer requested more color. I’m on my way out to the studio to work on that. . . or “back to the drawing board”.
Ahem. Perhaps I underbid this job slightly.
P.S. Did you figure out that this is Mineral King?
There I was, faced with the necessity to draw the north end of a mule headed south, and no reference material!
What’s a Central California artist to do?
Call in Cowboy Bert, of course.
That would be Cowboy Bert, Equine Photographer, who graciously set up one of his mules and positioned him for numerous photos. I was able to print out 3 for reference, but because it took a couple of hours for them to load on my computer, I didn’t save the photos to show you.
Then, I commenced drawing. When I can see what I need to see and know what I am seeing, I can draw very quickly. When I am drawing the north end of a mule headed south and the photos are all just a tad bit different and various pieces of information are obscured behind a tail or in shadow. I take my time. Here are a few of the stages that the drawing went through:
Nope, not drawing anything I can’t see. Waiting for photos. . .
Okay, let’s try this thing.
Hard to see the difference from the previous one. Maybe it is time to get an expert opinion.
At this point, I emailed it to The Captain, who is the prettier partner of Cowboy Bert. She has also taken drawing lessons from me, so I knew she’d observe every detail and prevent me from exposing my ignorance of a mule’s back side.
We laid tissue paper over a printout of the drawing, and the Captain showed me what she saw while explaining it. I repeated it back to her to be sure I understood, and then wrote notes so I could fix things later. (This all happened while setting up for her father’s memorial service – shows you what a thoughtful generous person she is, and possibly what a jerk I am for asking such a thing at such a time.)
Stay tuned for the final drawing. (At the time of this post, it isn’t yet finished.)
A regular customer wants to republish a book. The original drawing from the cover is missing, and it doesn’t look very good when scanned from a printed book. They asked me to redraw it, and to add color so it has the look of an old hand-tinted black and white photo. All I have to look at is a blurry dark photo and someone else’s drawing. Someone Else (never met her) drew it using the provided photo and other photos of unknown origin. This means there is some vital information missing. It is very difficult to draw from other people’s drawings, particularly when you don’t know the subject very well.
I saw this and thought, “Oh Missy Scarlett, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ babies”. I have painted and drawn a few mules, but it was under strict supervision and with good reference photos!
At least it is in a place I recognize and have drawn or painted a couple of times. A couple of dozen times!
Well, oops. Where is the mule? Where is the man leading the mule? Where is the man sitting on the boulder? Where did the previous artist get those images?
Where will I get those images? I can’t accurately and confidently draw things that I cannot see.
More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . .